Pages

'Bt' toxins are a favourite tool of
genetic engineers for creating crops which generate their own
pesticide to kill whatever is their most troublesome insect pest.

In Nature, such toxins are formed by a
variety of strains of Bacillus thuringienses
bacteria (hence 'Bt') found in soil and on plants. Organic farmers
may use Bacillus thrunigienses
fermentations as natural, short-lived insecticide sprays on their
crops. Outside of organic agriculture however, Bt-toxin containing
formula are used to control specific problematic insects, such as
disease-carrying mosquitoes.

Early in the GM game, the public were regaled with rosy images of the therapeutic wonders which GM crops would provide: the world would be rid of hepatitis B and other infectious diseases by a vaccine a single dried GM banana chip; Third World blindness would be banished forever with a bowl of vitamin-A-rich GM rice; unwanted preganacies would be a thing of the past with a little GM contraceptive corn delivering human antibodies to fight off sperm.

These wonders don't seem to have actually materialised yet: vaccines-in-a-banana disappeared below the radar, golden-rice has generated lots of PR but no healthier people [1], and the pregnancy-preventing plants fizzled out in bankruptcy.

However, GM pharmaceuticals are certainly alive and well and generating vast profits for industry.

March 2016 could prove a turning point for the fortunes of 'glyphosate', the weed-killer which has provided leverage for the commercial production of 80% of current GM crops, and is worth $5 billion to its major manufacturer.

It seems to have started with a spat in 2015 when the World Health Organisation's International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) concluded that the strength of the scientific evidence indicated that glyphosate is a "probable carcinogen" [1].

The IARC conclusion was published just at the same time as the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), which was preparing to re-licence glyphosate, declared it "unlikely" to be carcinogenic.

To understand how two such authoritative bodies could arrive at such opposing conclusions on the scientific evidence, all you need to do is look at the actual evidence considered by the two.

Readers of GM-free Scotland will be
familiar with warnings that glyphosate-based herbicides, which are
heavily used on most GM crops, have added ingredients to help
glyphosate penetrate into the plant cells and kill them more
efficiently [1].

Glyphosate dissolves well in water, but
sprayed on a crop without its 'helpers' it would glide off the waxy
outer layer and not much would make it through the fatty membrane
around the cells.

As the weeds around glyphosate-tolerant
GM crops have evolved to become less and less sensitive to the
herbicide, the biotech industry has had to rescue its pet GM
technology by producing more aggressive glyphosate-based
formulations. Most of these added ingredients are detergents
(fat-dissolvers) which disrupt the wax- and fatty- barriers designed
by Nature to protect the plant.

Regulators have allowed added
ingredients in agricultural pesticide sprays to be declared 'inert'
and may be mysterious 'commercially confidential' substances.

Echoing GRAIN's 2014 Report that the
Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation's philanthropic endeavours are
promoting an industrial, global market- and biotech industry-driven
model of agriculture in Africa, while bypassing local social needs
and knowledge [1], Global Justice Now released a similar Report in
2016.

It warns:

"the Gates Foundation is
in effect preparing the ground for (the biotech industry) to access
new profitable markets in hitherto closed-off developing countries,
especially in Africa. The Foundation is especially pushing for the
adoption of GM in Africa."

Gates has an aggressive corporate
strategy and extraordinary influence across governments, academics
and the media. It seems that, shielded by its unarguable
philanthropic purpose, and by its connections to corporations and
international development agencies, or its self-created 'partners'
[1], and by the loyalties required to gain and retain its funding and
patronage, healthy dissent and criticism have been stifled.

The Gates Foundation is probably the
biggest philanthropic venture ever, distributing billions of dollars
every year. Its traditional priorities are global health programmes
and educational work in the US.

However, during the last 10 years, the
Foundation has hugely expanded its funding for agriculture,
especially in Africa where 19 out of the 25 most food-insecure
countries in the world are (2014 Global Food Security Index).

In 2006, the
Foundation set up the 'Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa'
(AGRA) as the "face and voice" to fulfil its guiding
principles (see below).

Welcome to GM-free Scotland

About us

Formerly known as the Scottish Consumers Association for Natural Food, Pro-natural Food Scotland was formed in 1996 by a group of concerned people in Glasgow, Scotland. We are funded entirely by donation and run by volunteers. We network with, and support, all like-minded groups and individuals. Our objective is to empower by raising awareness.